WEDDING NEWS!

I am excited to announce the upcoming marriage of my brother Byron. He will be getting married in June, to a woman named Natalie. The last I talked to him the wedding is going to be June 6th. He will be getting an already made family of 4 kids, ranging in ages of 9, 8, 7, and 5. Natalie seems to be a really nice woman and I can't wait to meet her. I have only talked to her on the phone. Terry and I have been keeping tabs of grandchildren on both sides of our families to see who has the most. We have been pretty even throughout the years. This year it looked like Terry's family would pass mine. I am proud to announce that is not the case with the new additions coming.

Health

Okay, so I feel like I am falling apart. About a week and a half ago I sprained my ankle pretty bad. It was not getting much better after a week, so I went in and had it checked. Thank goodness it is not broken. It is still pretty tender, but I have finally seen some improvement. Yes, I am Bonnie's daughter! Than on Monday I was walking down the hallway with a load of laundry when my back went out. I could hardly walk. Of all times for it to go out, when I am caring clothes. I couldn't figure out at first why it would have done this, until I finally gave in and called Terry at work. (I didn't want to bother him because he has been so stressed with getting his Masters Project done) After talking to him it dawned on me that I had been working in my garden all day on Saturday. I even ran the rototiller. I am going crazy being out of commission. My house is so unorganized. It took me all day to get caught up on my laundry, plus two hours of folding clothes. I still need to hang up the clothes. Plus, I miss exercising. All I can do is go for walks.

On the brighter side of things. My family is in good health and enjoying the warmer weather. Abbie would be outside all day if she could. Terry is almost done with his project. He hopes to be done by this weekend. It will be nice having him home in the evenings again. I have been spoiled the past year with him being home for the majority of the evenings, I had forgotten how hard it is not to have him there.

I am grateful for my children and my husband and hope all it well with everyone else.

Riley's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY

The past week we have been celebrating Riley's birthday. He has been pretty excited. He turned 6 years old on Monday. It is hard to believe my first child is 6.
Terry and I decided we would let our kids have a birthday party on even birthdays, starting when they are 4. Riley was really excited to have a party this year. I don't know who was more excited Abbie or Riley. Abbie thought it was her party and she was going to get a Care Bear cake.
I asked Riley what he wanted to do and the only thing he wanted to do was play duck, duck, goose, goose; open presents; and have cake and ice cream. So I started brain storming about ideas. One of the presents Riley was adamant about getting was a pirate lego set. We decided to have a pirate them party. We made a pirate cake, made pirate hats, went on a savager hunt for treasure, and did a fishing pond. The kids had fun, and most important Riley really enjoyed his day. At the end of the day Riley was telling everyone he was 6 years old now. We had to explain, since we had his party on the Saturday before his birthday, that he wasn't 6 yet. He got really sad about this, until he realized he would be getting more presents on his actually birthday.
I got this idea from one of my friends blog. Here are some pictures of Riley over the past 6 years.

Riley's Baby Picture

Riley's at 1 year old
Riley at 2 years old
Riley at 3 years old

Riley at 4 years old
Riley at 5 years old

Riley at 6 years old
Here are some photos and videos of Riley's birthday party and birthday.

Update

Well it is probably time that I did an update. Things have been going well for us. Busy but well.
I am busy watching three children, besides mine own, during the day. Terry is busy with work and his Masters, so we don't have much time to spare. That is why I haven't made too many posts lately. I will try and make at least one post a month

I have been watching Abbie get more and more crowded in her toddler bed. She has at least four blankets she has to take to bed with her. Not to mention the 10 or so stuffed animals she has. So Terry and I decided on Riley's birthday we would move Riley to the top bunk and move Abbie out of her toddler bed into the bottom bunk. Well the other day while I was cleaning up the kids room, I decided I would start cleaning off the top bunk to make sure I had a place to store everything. The next thing I knew we were making a trip to Home Depot to purchase some wood to make a railing so Riley didn't roll off. It made for a very hectic day. The kids had fun though and Abbie slept a lot better last night with more room. Riley thinks it is fun to sleep on top and says that the monsters and ghosts can't find him now.

Whats For Dinner!

Well my sister inspired me to try something new for dinner. Lately I have gotten in a rut of making the same old meals, well all that changed last night. After reading my sisters blog about cooking, I decided to go through some of my old cooking magazines and find some new recipes to try out over the next couple of months (about a new recipe a week, just to change things up a bit). I actually found some pretty fun looking recipes. There was this one recipe, or I should say four, that just jumped out at me. It was a whole meal. I just had to try it, so I went to the store that night and bought all of the ingredients. It was one of the best meals I have had in a while. Terry loved it, of coarse he isn't a good example because he will eat just about anything, but my kids enjoyed it as well. I differently will be making this meal again.
Here is the Menu!!!!!!!!!!
*Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin (tribute to you Beverly)
plan ahead.......needs to marinate
1/2 C. Soy Sauce
1/4 C. olive oil or vegetable oil
4 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp ground ginger (I used only 1 tsp)
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 pork tenderloins (3/4 to 1 pound each)
coarsely ground pepper, optional
-In a large resealable plastic bag, combine the first six ingredients; add pork. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 4 hours, turning occasionally. Drain and discard marinade. Grill the tenderloins, covered, over indirect medium heat for 8-9 minutes on each side or until meat juices run clear and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees. Sprinkle with pepper if desired. Yield:8 servings
It took forever to grill the whole tenderloin. I ended up cutting it in to wedges.

*Sweet-Sour Broccoli Salad
plan ahead........needs to chill
4 C broccoli florets
1 C peanuts
1 C raisins
1/2 C chopped onion
1 C Mayonnaise
2 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp sugar
-In a bowl, combine the broccoli, peanuts, raisines and onion. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar and sugar; pour over vegetables and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Yield: 8 servings.
This was delicious. I have been think about a way to make it more healthy. I think next time I will make it with plain yogurt and splendid. We will see how it turns out.

Pesto-Corn Grilled Peppers
ready in 30 mins or less
1/2 C plus 2 tsp olive or vegetable oil, divided
3/4 C grated parmesan cheese
2 C tightly paced fresh basil (or about 1-2 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp sunflower kernels or walnuts
4 garlic cloves
1/2 C finely chopped sweet red pepper
4 C whole kernel corn (I used frozen sweet white corn)
4 Medium sweet red, yellow, or green peppers
1/2 C shredded Parmesan Cheese, optional
-For pesto, combine 1/2 C of oil, greated Parmesan cheese, basil, sunflower kerneals and garlic in a ablender or food processor; cover and process until blended. In a skillet, saute red pepper in reamining oil until tender. Add corn and pesto; heat through.
Halve peppers lengthwise; remove seeds. Place, cut side down, on grill voer medium heat; cover and cook for 8 minutses. Turn; fill with corn mixture. Grill 4-6 minutes longer or until tender. Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese if desired. Yield: 8 servings.
I am not a fan of peppers by themself, but this was actually very good.

*Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
plan ahead....needs to chill
2 Pkgs (8 ounes each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
1 Can (21 ounces) blueberry pie filling, divided
-In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs, beating just until combined. Pour into crust. Drop 1/2 cup of pie filling by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the cream cheese mixture; cut through with a knife to swirl the pie filling .
Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack. Chill for 2 hours. Top with remaining pie filling. Yield: 8 servings

I want to challenge all of you to try something new. Go through you old cook books or magazines, maybe go to the Library and look through their cooking magazines and try something you haven't cooked before. Let me know how it works, and maybe share your recpies. For those who want to try these recipes out have fun and enjoy.